What to do if your skin is scratched by a monkey

In the zoo, many friends will feed the monkeys some food by hand. At this time, if you are not careful, the monkey will scratch your skin. Some friends don’t care about this situation and just go home and disinfect with alcohol and then don’t take it seriously. However, experts here remind everyone that if you are accidentally scratched by a monkey, you must go to the hospital for treatment in time, because the monkey carries the Endo virus.

There are more than 100 members of the herpes virus

Herpesvirus is a large family that includes at least 100 members, which are divided into human herpesvirus, non-human primate herpesvirus, other mammalian herpesvirus, avian herpesvirus, amphibian herpesvirus, and fish herpesvirus. Under normal circumstances, different animals are only infected with their specific herpes viruses, which do not easily spread across species. There are currently eight types of human herpes viruses discovered, the most familiar of which is the varicella-zoster virus.

In addition to causing herpes or rashes on the skin or mucous membranes, herpes virus infection has another characteristic, which is that it specifically likes to drill into nerve tissue and immune cells. For example: varicella-zoster virus and herpes simplex virus often lurk in the ganglia, and once the time is right, they will cause human disease; after a person gets shingles, the herpes often spreads along the nerves, causing severe neuralgia; herpes simplex virus infection can cause viral encephalitis in humans.

The origin of simian herpes virus

The simian herpes virus was discovered in 1932. At that time, a 29-year-old doctor named B was bitten on his left hand by a healthy-looking rhesus monkey while conducting experiments on monkeys in the laboratory. The wound was superficial and did not attract the attention of the doctor. Three days later, the bitten finger of Doctor B began to swell, turn red and painful; soon, it developed into lymphangitis in the left upper limb, swollen axillary lymph nodes, fever and body pain; finally, it developed into encephalomyelitis, and he died of respiratory failure 15 days later. Doctors found a herpes virus in his nerve tissue that had never been seen in human diseases and named it "B virus" after Doctor B's last name. Later, the International Committee on Taxonomy and Nomenclature of Viruses called it rhesus monkey herpesvirus.

There are 35 types of simian herpes viruses (non-human primate herpes viruses) discovered so far, and only this B virus has been reported to infect humans.

Human infection can easily lead to death

Simian herpes virus infection is a zoonosis. However, monkeys almost never die after being infected with the simian herpes virus. Most of the infections are latent. About 2%-3% of infected monkeys may develop mild herpes symptoms, just like humans infected with herpes simplex, which only causes herpes around the mouth or oral mucosa, and the symptoms will improve naturally after a few days.

However, human infection with simian herpes virus often leads to death. Studies have found that there are no asymptomatic people after infection. The incubation period is mostly 5 to 21 days. It mainly invades the lymphatic tissue and nervous system, and may cause lymphangitis, lymphadenitis, high fever, headache, myalgia, neuralgia, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diplopia, dizziness, dysarthria, dystaxia, confusion, nerve paralysis, etc. In the later stages of infection, symptoms such as epilepsy, hemiplegia, mild hemiplegia, paralysis, dyspnea, and coma usually appear. Approximately 70% to 80% of those infected die, usually from respiratory failure caused by nerve palsy, and survivors often have neurological sequelae.